Lei Day to play out around the bay

UPDATE: As of Friday afternoon, the Saturday, May 2, performance at Yerba Buena Gardens by Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu and Faith Ako, described below, has been canceled due to the possibility of rain and will be rescheduled later. The other Lei Day events mentioned are still scheduled to occur. — Jeanne Cooper

May Day is Lei Day, but it lasts a full weekend — or longer — in the Bay Area.

On Lei Day itself, May 1, you can make your own lei at free workshops in San Jose. At the downtown Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, children, teens and families are invited to make garlands in the Exploration Room, mezzanine level, from 4 to 5 p.m.; call (408) 808-2183 for more information.

Meanwhile, at the Tully Branch Library, lei making has a sweet twist: Participants in the 4 p.m. workshop will create candy leis while enjoying hula by students in the library’s hula class.

On Saturday, May 2, San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens will take on a Hawaiian air with a free and fascinating show by Patrick Makuakāne’s groundbreaking hula troupe, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, and singer Faith Ako, whose new album “Papakū” includes contemporary and traditional island tunes.

Traditional hula kahiko is also part of innovative Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu’s repertoire.

The 90-minute show, which starts at 1 p.m., is said to be the hula halau‘s only full-length performance in the city this year. It’s also a warmup for Na Lei Hulu’s May 9 gig at Napa Valley Opera House, where tickets are $33.

On Sunday, May 3, the 21-year-old dance troupe Hui Hula o Nā Pu‘u i ka Noe presents its spring hō‘ike in the Snow Building at the Oakland Zoo. The show’s performers come from kumu Kalena Gregory’s Polynesian dance classes for men, women and children, taught in Oakland, El Cerrito and Berkeley.

Doors open at 1:30 p.m.; the two-hour show starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 plus parking, $15 for children ages 4 to 12 and for Oakland Zoo members (who get free parking with proof of ID). Children 3 and under free if seated on adult lap.

And mark your calendars: May 9-10 brings the annual Hawaiian May Day Festival at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. Presented by the Kumu Hula Association of Northern California, the event includes arts and craft vendors, food booths and entertainment (music and dance) in the amphitheater, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Tickets are $10 per day, children 5 and under are free — moms get half off on Mothers Day, May 10, if they print and fill out this <a href="//www.kumuhulaassociation.com/pdf/Couponwmom.pdf"coupon.